The present invention relates generally to the field of aviation. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to weather hazard detection in an aircraft.
An airborne radar of an aircraft may be configured to detect reflectivity of weather cells in front of the aircraft. In conventional systems, the reflectivity may be processed to determine a severity, hazard, or threat level, or the like, associated with the weather cells (e.g., the reflectivity may be used in a rainfall rate function or other function configured to determine a threat level). The severity or threat level determined may be mapped to a color coding scheme, and the weather cells may be displayed on an aircraft display with the appropriate colors.
However, such systems may not indicate an accurate threat level and convective related threats, such as lightning. Identifying the presence and amount of lightning within a convective cell provides an indication to the severity of the weather cell. Understanding the severity of a weather cell may help flight crews of the aircraft, as the aircraft may fly in close proximity to less severe cells but needs to circumnavigate severe cells to avoid severe convective-related hazards (e.g., lightning, hail, turbulence, etc.). Currently, pilots may either avoid less severe weather cells by too much, making inefficient weather avoidance decisions, or may fly too close to severe cells and encounter hazards. What is needed are systems and methods to better map reflectivity to weather hazards.
It would be desirable to provide a system and/or method that provides one or more of these or other advantageous features. Other features and advantages will be made apparent from the present specification. The teachings disclosed extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the aforementioned needs.